Nguyen Thi Hoa, a teacher at a private preschool in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, was sentenced two years in jail for manslaughter of a 15-month-old boy in 2009.
Hoa in court
As an additional part of the sentence, the municipal People’s Court decided on January 24 that Hoa must also provide VND101 million (USD4,839) in compensation to the family of Nguyen Ha Viet Anh.
Hoa was a teacher at Tuoi Ngoc 4 Private School in Bien Hoa and was responsible for looking after the children of the nursery class which Anh attended.
According to Hoa’s statement, the incident occurred on the morning of November 4, 2009. Hoa said that Anh was a newcomer to her class and was still not comfortable in the new environment.
After the child's second meal, Hoa helped him to the bathroom, and directly afterwards Anh began having convulsions and became unconscious. Five days later the child died and Hoa was relieved of.
Despite the boy family’s complaints, the city’s People’s Procuracy initially refused to bring the case to court.
But after press criticism, Hoa stood trial in July, 2011, but was let out on bail. Her refusal to make any statement hindered police investigation.
In court she refused to admit negligence while looking after the boy that could have caused his death. She insisted that he must have fallen down at home or on the way to school.
Because of her lack of cooperation in giving details, the investigation relied largely on forensic evidence and autopsy reports.
According to medical experts, the boy suffered from head trauma and became unconscious directly after the injury, indicating that the fall had not happened before or on the way to school.
The boy’s father claimed that after the incident, school officials came to his house and gave the family VND3 million (USD143.7) and blamed the death on the family. They replied by writing a letter of warning to other parents with children attending the school, and posted it on the gates.
They were subsequently fined for this action.
He added that the stress put on the family after the boy's death led to his divorce from his wife and his mother's dying of grief.
At the court, Nguyen Thi Van, owner of the school still criticised the boy family’s behaviour but was turned down by the court.
A representative from the city’s People’s Procuracy proposed sentencing Hoa to anywhere from one to one and half a years in in prison, but the panel of judges decided on a two-year sentence.
